The two men discussed the probable value of what we had found, and
I felt some disappointment in their estimate of what the dominie
might be able to sell the relics for.
"It is very good to find these things," said my father, blowing a
mist of tobacco smoke from amidst his beard. "But what use are
they, whatever? Nae use ava! The dominie might send them to the
museum folk at Edinburgh, and he would get mebbe a pickle pounds
for them--hardly enough for the lads to buy an auld boat wi'. I
wouldna be bothered wi' the things."
"What was it the old woman was saying about this stone, though,
Halcro?" asked the captain.
I repeated what Grace Drever told me--how the stone might protect
me from accident and from the monsters of the sea; from the kraken
and the kelpie, the warlocks and the wirracows; and how, having the
charm at my neck, I need never fear climbing a cliff or entering
upon the most dangerous adventure.
"And do you believe all this, my lad?" asked Captain Gordon, taking
his pipe from his lips and addressing me.
"Well," I returned, with an earnestness that must have shown that I
had not the smallest doubt upon the matter, "auld Grace Drever said
it was 'as true as death,' and the dominie did not deny that it was
'just possible.' What for should I not believe it? and what for
would the stone be bound with the gold ring and buried with the
other gear if it were not of some value beyond ordinary?"
"Och! but I dinna doot there will be something in the stone," said
my father, who, at the mention of the dominie's belief, cast away
all questioning.
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